On the Ongoing Assault on Hudaydah, Yemen

Mass Proletariat condemns the assault on the Yemeni port of Hudaydah by
the Saudi and UAE coalition, the latest act of imperialist aggression in
the country’s seven-year-old civil-war. This coalition—while nominally
representing the Yemeni government-in-exile of President Abdrabbuh
Mansour Hadi—is backed, both politically and militarily, by France,
the U.K., and the U.S. The coalition is attempting to rest control of
Hudaydah from the Houthi-led, Iran-backed Supreme Political Council. The
Houthis, currently in control of large sections of the country, are a
Yemeni Shi’a political party with a corresponding military wing. The
assault takes place within an ongoing civil war in Yemen. While the
Houthis do not fundamentally represent the interests of the Yemeni
people, the coalition’s assault on Hudaydah will cut off the flow of
basic material aid to the masses of Yemen and exacerbate the ongoing
famine, cholera crisis, and abject suffering in the country.

Background

Situated at the southern end of the Arabian peninsula, Yemen occupies a
key position, economically and militarily. Its proximity to the Red Sea
and the Gulf of Aden provides access to key shipping lanes that
transport goods from the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, the Middle
East, and Asia. Approximately ten percent of the world’s seaborne oil
passes through Bab-el-Mandeb, the strait which connects the Red Sea to
the Gulf of Aden. While Yemen itself has a relatively small navy, it has
a number of treaties and agreements which allow the U.S., NATO, the
E.U., and countries such as Japan and India to patrol its waters on
anti-piracy and other missions aimed at ensuring the uninterrupted flow
of global commerce.

Prior to 1990, Yemen was divided into the Yemen Arab Republic (North
Yemen) and the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) which
were respectively U.S. and Soviet neocolonies. Their unification, which
occurred just prior to the collapse of the USSR, was preceded by an
agreement to establish a Joint Investment Area along their border to
survey for and develop oil resources. This deal was facilitated by the
Hunt Oil Company and Exxon, two major U.S. oil corporations, which
provided technology and capital for the project and maintained effective
control of its development. The fall of the USSR and the unification of
Yemen resulted in the country’s thorough domination by Western
imperialism, with U.S. allies in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and
the UAE also playing a significant role in Yemen’s domestic economy and
politics.

Even prior to Unification, North Yemen signed numerous treaties and
agreements which gave American, French, South Korean, and Japanese
companies the rights to much of the oil and natural gas produced in the
country. Companies from these imperialist countries often also
controlled the majority stake in various government run projects. This
process has only accelerated in the wake of unification, with the IMF
and World Bank providing the country with a number of loans which were
contingent upon its further opening up to foreign capital and greater
submission to imperialist domination.

For example, in 1995 the Yemeni government created the Yemen LNG Company
(YLNG). The project was financed by $4 billion in foreign loans from
banks in the U.S., France, the U.K., South Korea, and Japan. In addition
to foreign control via the loans which financed the development of the
project, the French oil company Total purchased a 39.62% stake in YLNG,
the American Hunt Oil Corporation a 17.22% stake, the SK Group—a South
Korean conglomerate—a 9.55% stake, the South Korean natural gas
company Kogas a 6% stake, and the South Korean Hyundai Corporation a
5.88% stake. In contrast, the Yemen Gas Company has only a 16.73% stake
in the company.1

Yemen has also been a key country through which Saudi Arabia and the UAE
have expanded their influence in the region. For example, in 1991, Yemen
established the Aden Free Zone (AFZ) in the southern port of Aden. In
this, and in other “free zones,” akin to special economic zones in other
parts of the world, where foreign capital has complete control and
ownership. There are no taxes, and there are no restrictions on
repatriation of profits and capital. Additionally, the Yemeni government
works in close collaboration with foreign capitalists to suppress any
and all workers’ organizing and movements in these “free zones.” Both
Saudi and UAE corporations play a major role in the AFZ. The UAE company
Dubai Ports Worlds currently operates the Aden Container Terminal in the
AFZ and thus effectively controls the shipping that passes through it.
The development of the AFZ has been directed by the Saudi Arabian Bin
Mohfoud Group in conjunction with the Port of Singapore Authority.2
These are but a few example of the overall imperialist control and
domination of Yemen. They clearly show the comprador nature of the
Yemeni state and its subservience to foreign capital.

While oil and gas account for approximately 90% of exports from Yemen
and amounted to 60-70% of pre-civil war government revenues, the
majority of the Yemeni population is engaged in agricultural and
pastoral labor in semi-feudal conditions. Yemen is also the poorest
country in the Middle East, and has a significant Arab proletariat. In
contrast, many more wealthy Arab nations like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and
the UAE rely heavily on foreign workers and indentured servants who work
in slave-like conditions and are often prevented from leaving the
country at will.3 In contrast, the vast majority of Yemenis are Arabs
or Afro-Arabs, and as such the ruling class of the country has had to
rely on the exploitation of largely Arab people. This has been a major
factor which has contributed to unrest in the country.

The fact that Yemen has been gripped by a civil war and major crisis
since 2011, is a manifestation of the current crisis of
capitalist-imperialism. The once loyal neocolony has not been able to
maintain the unity of its rule, and has been gripped by mass protests
against the government’s domestic repression and subservience to foreign
capital. This crisis has also created openings for rival imperialist
powers like China and Russia, and junior-imperialist powers like Iran,
to make a foothold in the country. Russia’s attempts to take over
American investments in Yemen, Iran’s expanding influence throughout the
region—in particular through sponsoring Shi’a movements—and China’s
gains in the Horn of Africa have threatened Western imperialist
dominance in the region, as well as the position of their junior
imperialist partners like Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

In this context, the civil war in Yemen should be understood as a
competition between rival imperialist powers for control and domination
of the country. Yemen’s strategic location makes it a key flash-point in
the larger inter-imperialist conflict that is developing. As this
process continues, rival imperialists powers adopt more and more brutal
methods to gain or maintain control of markets, resources, strategic
locations, and profits. However, it is also important to remember that
it was the heroic resistance and struggle of the Yemeni masses that
initially precipitated the crisis in the Yemeni state, and has continued
to undermine various imperialist schemes to establish a stable comprador
government and hence to consolidate control over the country. Despite
the incredible difficulties and brutal oppression that they have faced,
the Yemeni masses have continuously rebelled against comprador
capitalists and foreign imperialists. We stand in solidarity with their
anti-imperialist struggle and condemn the machinations of both Iran and
the US-led bloc that aim to crush their resistance and establish a new
comprador government in control of the country.

Civil War in Yemen

A civil war has been raging in Yemen since 2011. During the Arab Spring,
popular-democratic and anti-imperialist protests broke out against the
government, then run by dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. This comprador
government was backed by France, the U.K., and the U.S., as well as Gulf
nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Saleh had ruled Yemen since 1990,
and was the ruler of North Yemen before that. Mass protests opposed his
links to U.S. imperialism, the systematic corruption in his government,
and his brutal crackdowns against all forms of political opposition.

The protests sharpened long-standing contradictions in the Yemeni state,
in particular between factions within the military. Saleh was working to
appoint his son as supreme commander of the military, setting him up to
eventually take over rule of the country. This upset some within Saleh’s
General People’s Congress (GPC), then the ruling political party,
including Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar—who was then leader of the
First Armored Division and had strong ties in the Yemeni intelligence
community—as well as his brother Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar. Sadiq stepped
down from his position in the GPC in February, 2011 and aligned himself
with the Al-Islah party, which attempted to co-opt the mass movement for
its own aims. That March, Saleh tried unsuccessfully to assassinate
General Moshen. Moshen then stated that he and other military officers
would protect protesters from Saleh’s ongoing violent reprisals,
effectively endorsing the movement to oust Saleh as leader of the
government. This competition internal to the Yemeni state, coupled with
the mass movement, led to a major crisis, with the GPC and Al-Islah both
competing to outmaneuver the other, co-opt the people’s movement, and
secure their position as the main comprador force in the country.

In the midst of this crisis, on February 21, 20114 Houthi leader
Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi backed the popular protests against the
government, and called for regime change.5 With military and
political aid from Iran, the Houthis have been waging an insurgency in
rural northern Yemen since 2004. The crisis that Saleh’s government
faced provided the Houthis with an opportunity to rapidly expand their
territory and influence. Iran used this opening, and the pretext of
preventing piracy in the Gulf of Aden, to deploy warships to the region
and to provide the Houthis with arms and military advisers. In response,
Saudi Arabia began launching air strikes against the Houthis. However,
the contradictions between the military forces loyal to Saleh, and those
supporting General Moshen, were so great that the Yemeni military did
not put up a significant opposition to the Houthis’ expansion on the
ground.

By November 2011, Saleh was forced to step down as president. The U.S.
and the Saudi and UAE-dominated Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) brokered
a deal whereby Saleh’s vice president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, would
take over as president. This deal included the creation of a coalition
government between the GPC and the Al-Islah Party, which had risen in
power with the support of General Mohsen and his brother Sheikh Sadiq.
The coalition excluded the Houthis, as the U.S.-aligned bloc saw the
Houthis, and their relations with Iran, as a threat to their imperialist
interests in Yemen.6

The deal also proposed a series of reforms aimed at calming mass unrest,
and at reorganizing the military. Both were designed to develop a force
more loyal to the interests of foreign capital, and to remove military
officers upset by Saleh’s ousting. Overall the deal protected existing
GCC and Western imperialist interests in Yemen. However, the coalition
government struggled to properly implement these changes,7 and Hadi’s
government remained plagued by crises, including mass protests,8 the
Houthi insurgency which was gaining ground in the countryside of
northern Yemen, and a Sunni insurgency supposedly linked with al-Qaeda
developing in the south.9

In July 2014, as part of promised “reforms,” Hadi’s government announced
that it would cut fuel subsidies. Pressure to eliminate the subsidies
had come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which stipulated
these changes as a condition for granting a $560 million loan to the
Yemeni government.10 At the time, the government was in financial
turmoil, and the loan was supposed to provide short-term relief. Cutting
the fuel subsidies led to mass protests, which were met with a violent
government crackdown. The Houthis were able to draw on the mass outrage
against Hadi’s government to consolidate support for their rebellion,
especially in urban areas where they previously had limited influence.

During this period, ex-president Saleh returned to Yemen, brokered an
alliance with the Houthis, and worked to win support for his return to
power among the GPC. By September 21, 2014, the Houthis took control of
the Yemeni capital of Sana’a. While some members of the Yemeni army
fought against the Houthis, Saleh had been successful in winning the
support of many officers, and the interior minister ordered the army to
stand down as the Houthis took control of the city.11 The internal
contradictions in the army were a reflection of the divisions in the
coalition government. While some in the coalition government, in
particular those aligned with the Al-Islah Party,12 opposed the
Houthi takeover of Sana’a, many others supported it. These
contradictions prevented the coalition from mounting a successful and
coordinated defense of the city.

The Houthi coup was completed when, on November 8, 2014, the GPC ousted
Hadi as its leader, and threw its support behind Saleh.13 Hadi
officially resigned as president of Yemen in January, 2015. His
resignation sparked mass protests against the Houthi coup throughout the
country.14 Hadi subsequently fled to the southern port of Aden and
reneged on his resignation, claiming that his hand had been forced by
the Houthis. He later fled the country to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and
worked to drum up international support for foreign military
intervention in Yemen. In February 2015, the Houthis dissolved the
Yemeni parliament and replaced it with a “Revolutionary Committee” led
by Mohammed Ali al-Houthi. This precipitated a crisis in which various
warlords in southern Yemen—largely outside of Houthi control at the
time—threatened to secede and form a separate state.15 The
dissolution of the parliament was met with mass protests, which the
Houthis suppressed by firing into crowds and arresting protesters.16

In response to this crisis and the Houthis’ military advances towards
the southern port of Aden, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in consultation
with various Western imperialist powers, formed a military and political
coalition and launched a military campaign in Yemen, named Operation
Decisive Storm. While nominally in support of Hadi’s government, the
coalition’s real aim is to protect the interests of various imperialist
and expansionist powers. The coalition includes ground and air forces
from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait,
Qatar,17 and Bahrain.18 Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia all have
made their airspace, territorial waters, and military bases available
for coalition use. The private American military contractor
Academi—formerly Blackwater—has also provided troops to the
coalition. Additionally, France, the U.K., and the U.S. all have
provided extensive military aid, weapons, bombs, intelligence, and even
in-flight-refueling to the coalition. On the other side, Iran,
Syria,19 North Korea,20 Hezbollah,21 and Russia22 all
provide varying degrees of military and economic support to the Houthis.

Since 2015, the civil war has intensified, famine has spread throughout
the country, and at least 17.5 million people are without regular access
to clean water and are therefore at high-risk for infection from
cholera. In short, the competition between rival imperialist powers and
their associated allies for control of Yemen and the nearby shipping
lanes through Bab-el-Mandeb has brought untold suffering on the Yemeni
people. The country remains deeply divided, with the Houthis, various
factions in the coalition, and numerous warlords controlling different
sections of the country.

The ongoing coalition assault on Hudaydah is only bringing more
suffering upon the Yemeni people and appears to be part of a strategy to
literally starve out the Houthi-controlled areas. According to a recent
World Bank report, 17.8 million Yemenis—about sixty percent of the
population—struggle to find food daily, with at least 8.4 million of
them on the brink of famine.23 Yemen relies heavily on food imports
to feed its population, and Hudaydah is a vital port of entry for food
imports to much of the country.

It should come as no surprise that the coalition would commit genocide
via bombing, occupation, famine, and a cholera crisis. Imperialist and
junior-imperialist powers would rather slaughter millions than let the
profits that those people produce—and key strategic resource and
shipping lanes in the country—fall under the control of rival
imperialist powers. Such is the logic of capitalist-imperialism. This
logic has played out in both the Houthi assaults to gain control of
various cities and towns, and in the coalition’s brutal military
campaign to wrest control of northern Yemen from the Houthis. According
to a U.N. estimate, as many as 250,000 may die in the assault on
Hudaydah,24 and likely millions more will die if the coalition is
successful in cutting off food supplies to the Houthi-controlled
sections of the country.

Despite these incredibly difficult circumstances, the Yemeni masses have
engaged in mass resistance to the comprador government, the Houthi
insurgency, the machinations of various regional warlords, and to
foreign imperialist intervention in their country. Mass Proletariat
stands in solidarity with the Yemeni people in their struggle for
liberation from feudalism, imperialism, and comprador capitalism. Mass
Proletariat condemns the various imperialist powers, comprador
capitalists, and feudal warlords who aim to profit from the suffering of
the Yemeni people.

As the global crisis of capitalist-imperialism deepens, and
inter-imperialist competition intensifies, the imperialists will
inevitably resort to more warfare, both through proxies and directly
with each other. We call upon all progressive and anti-imperialist
forces in the U.S. to stand in solidarity with the Yemeni people, and
with all the oppressed peoples of the world.

Prior to 1990, approximately one million Yemenis worked in Saudi
Arabia. However, they were expelled after the Yemeni government
refused to support the coalition against Saddam Hussein in the First
Gulf War. ↩

February 21, 2011 corresponded to the 17 Rabi' al-awwal (the
third month of the Islamic calendar), the day Shi’a scholars believe
to be the birthday of the prophet Mohammed. This is indicative of
the efforts by Iran and the Houthis to falsely frame this conflict
and the underlying social contradictions as a religious conflict
between Shi’a and Sunni Islam instead of a proxy war between rival
imperialist powers and their allies. ↩

This in part seems due to the extreme imperialist hubris and
chauvinism of the U.S. armed forces, who, for example, refused to
train Yemeni pilots and aircraft maintainer in Arabic, and instead
taught the classes, including the actual flight training in the
aircraft, exclusively in English. See
https://wikileaks.org/yemen-files/document/2013/201305xx_Yemen_Response/

Many protests opposed the Hadi government’s continued lackeyism to
U.S. imperialism and the high levels of corruption. In particular,
there was significant opposition to Hadi’s willingness, under the
guise of counter-terrorism, to allow the U.S. military to terrorize
the people with repeated drone strikes. Given that the class
character of the government had not changed with the GCC-brokered
deal, it is not surprising that Hadi’s government continued to have
a comprador bourgeois character. The continued and courageous
resistance of the Yemeni people demonstrates a certain unwillingness
to be duped by the machinations of imperialist oppressors. ↩

While it is possible that the forces in Yemen were part of
al-Qaeda (and later the Islamic State), any assertion by the U.S.
Government that an Islamic group is linked with al-Qaeda should be
received with extreme suspicion. In the wake of the September 11
attacks on the World Trade Center, Congress passed the Authorization
for Use of Military Force (AUMF) which authorizes the use of United
States Armed Forces against those responsible for the September
11 attacks and against any “associated forces.” Since its
inception the AUMF has been used on numerous occasions in countries
all over the world to justify U.S. military aggression, including
against progressive Islamic groups, and the burden of proof for
demonstrating that a group is “associated” with al-Qaeda has
generally been extremely low. According to journalist Seymour Hersh,
the U.S. currently has ongoing military operations in 76 countries
around the world, and many of them are authorized through use of the
AUMF.

In Yemen, the AUMF was used in the wake of the Arab Spring to
justify a massive increase in U.S. military action in the country,
in the form of arming and training the Yemeni military as well as
conducting covert operations. For an official Congressional report
on the AUMF see https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/pres-aumf.pdf.
Note that this report only covers publicly available executive
actions, and thus is certainly a gross underestimate of how often
the AUMF has been invoked to justify military action. ↩

In particular, General Mohsen used the chaos to rally troops to
his banner, and attempted to launch a coup. While troops under his
command were some of the few that fought against the Houthis, they
were unsuccessful in their coup, and Mohsen then was forced to flee
the country. ↩

In 2017, discontent with his limited role in the Houthi-run
government, Saleh launched a rebellion in Sana’a against the Houthis
and called on his supporters to “retake the country.” He had
reportedly been in dialogue with the Saudis and the UAE. The
rebellion in Sana’a was crushed and Saleh was killed by the Houthis
while attempting to flee to a Saudi-coalition controlled section of
Yemen. ↩